Mediterranean Games

The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The first Mediterranean Games were held in 1951 in Alexandria, Egypt, while the most recent games were held in 2022 in Oran, Algeria.

History

The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.), assisted by Greek member of the I.O.C. Ioannis Ketseas. Separate Mediterranean sports events preceded the games. From 1947 to 1949, the Mediterranean Athletics Championships were contested, and the Mediterranean Cup football competition was held in 1949 and 1950. The first official Mediterranean Games were held in Egypt in 1951.

The Games were inaugurated in October 1951, in Alexandria, Egypt, in honour of Muhammed Taher Pasha, with contests being held in 13 sports and 734 athletes from 10 countries participating. During the II Games, held in 1955 in Barcelona, a Supervisory and Controlling Body for the Games was established to function as a kind of executive committee. The decisions were finally materialized on 16 June 1961, and the said Body was named, upon a Greek notion, the ICMG (International Committee for the Mediterranean Games). Twelve countries have hosted the Mediterranean Games, including four from Africa: Egypt (1951), Tunisia (1967, 2001), Algeria (1975, 2022) and Morocco (1983); six from Europe: Spain (1955, 2005, 2018), Italy (1963, 1997, 2009), Turkey (1971, 2013), Yugoslavia (1979), Greece (1991) and France (1993); and two from Asia: Lebanon (1959) and Syria (1987).

The first eleven games took place one year before the nearest Summer Olympic Games. Since 1993, the games have been held the year after the Olympic Games. This transition means that the only time the Mediterranean Games were not held four years after the previous games was in 1993, when Languedoc-Roussillon in France hosted the games just two years after Athens in 1991. In 2018, the Mediterranean Games calendar was reset again when Tarragona hosted the games in the mid-even year between the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games (and in the same year as the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup).

Description

The Mediterranean Games, in terms of the preparation and composition of the National Delegation, are held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee and the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC).

Athens is the permanent seat of the ICMG (regardless of who the President might be) and the committee's General Secretary is Greek. This comes as a further tribute to Greece, highlighting its leading role with regard to the function and strengthening of the institution. Greece bailed out of its 2013 Mediterranean Games commitment due to financial troubles, when the two cities of Volos and Larissa were supposed to host the 2013 edition of the games. The 2013 honors went to Turkey, with the city of Mersin hosting the games instead.

Participating countries

At present, 26 countries participate in the Mediterranean Games:

• Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia
• Asia: Lebanon and Syria
• Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey

Kosovo was accepted as a member of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games in October 2015 and participated for the first time in the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain. One athlete representing the Vatican City participated in an unofficial ("non-scoring") manner in the women's half marathon event at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria.

Of all the National Olympic Committees within the Olympic Movement bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Palestine have not participated in the Mediterranean Games, nor has Great Britain, which represents the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

In the case of Israel, Allen Guttman in The Games Must Go On argued that Israel's exclusion is both antisemitic and politically motivated due to antagonism towards Israel by the participating Muslim and Arab nations. IOC President Avery Brundage was not supportive of Israel's desire to compete, saying: "I cannot understand why anyone wants to go where he is not wanted". The International Amateur Athletics Federation pushed the issue at the 1959 Mediterranean Games in Beirut by refusing to grant permission to hold an athletics competition unless Israel was allowed to compete. Lebanese games organizer Gabriel Gemayel conceded to this, but sidestepped the ruling by holding a parallel "Lebanese Games" comprising athletics events between the present nations alongside the official Mediterranean Games competitions. In September 2023, European Olympic Committees president Spyros Capralos called on the International Committee of Mediterranean Games to open a discussion about admitting both Israel and Palestine as members.

There are countries not bordering the Mediterranean Sea which nonetheless participate: Portugal, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Serbia and North Macedonia. Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia were all formerly part of Yugoslavia, which competed until its breakup and dissolution in 1992.[citation needed]

The Hellenic Olympic Committee has suggested that nine more countries that do not satisfy the geographic criteria could be allowed to participate, such as Bulgaria and Jordan.[citation needed] Portugal competed in the 2018 Mediterranean Games after a decision which approved Portugal as an effective National Olympic Committee.

Flag

The symbol of the Mediterranean Games consists of three rings representing Asia, Africa and Europe, the three continents involved in this competition. The rings dissolve in a wavy line in their lower part, as if they were immersed in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. During the closing ceremony, the flag is transferred to the country of the city chosen to host the next edition of the Mediterranean Games.

Editions

All host cities have been coastal and all but one on the Mediterranean coast (Casablanca is on the Atlantic coast). When Pristina hosts in 2030, it will be the first host city to not be coastal.

Notes

All-time medal table

– Yugoslavia competed in 1997 and 2001 as FR Yugoslavia.

– Serbia competed in 2005 as Serbia and Montenegro.

• (*) Yugoslavia participated in the Games before its breakup in 1992 and the establishment of the constituent republics.
• (**) The UAR included at the time Egypt and Syria.
• (***) Honorary participation in Tunis in 2001.

Doping

Changes by doping:

1. Nurcan Taylan – Weightlifting at the 2009 Mediterranean Games - 53kg Women - 2 Gold
2. Gülcan Mıngır – Athletics at the 2013 Mediterranean Games – Results - 3000m Steeplechase Women – 1 Bronze

Competitions

Throughout the history of the Mediterranean Games, 34 different sports have been presented:

Mediterranean Sports Federations

19 Federations in 2018:

1. Confédération Méditerranéenne d'Escrime (COMES)
2. Confédération Méditerranéenne d'Haltérophilie (MWC)
3. Confédération Méditerranéenne de Handball (MHC)
4. Mediterranean Committee of Associated Wrestling Styles (CMLA)
5. Union Européenne et Méditerranéenne de Tir a l'arc (EMAU)
6. Confederation of Mediterranean Badminton (COMEBA)
7. Confédération Méditerranéenne de Wakeboard et Ski Nautique (MWWC)
8. Ligue Méditerranéenne de Football
9. Mediterranean Karate Federations Union
10. Union Méditerranéenne de Voile
11. Conféderation Méditerranéenne de Natation (C.O.ME.N.)
12. Union Méditerranéenne de Tennis de Table (UMTT)
13. Union méditerranéenne de Taekwondo
14. Confédération Méditerranéenne de Gymnastique
15. Fédération Méditerranéenne de WUSHU
16. Union de la Méditerranée des sports de Boules
17. Union Méditerranéenne d'Athlétisme
18. Union des Fédérations Méditerranéennes des Activités Subaquatiques
19. Confederation of Mediterranean Orienteering Federations (COMOF)

See also

• Mediterranean Beach Games

External links

• – International Mediterranean Games Committee